Mendon-Upton schools will keep MCAS

Tuesday

Jun 24, 2014 at 12:01 AM

By Mike GleasonDaily News Staff

The Mendon-Upton Regional School Committee has voted to keep the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test for the next school year, citing numerous problems with the new Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessment.The committee was unanimous in its rejection of the new test at Monday night's meeting.Superintendent Joseph Maruszczak gave a presentation to the committee on the subject, drawing on his research and the districtís experiences during a pilot testing program this year. He said a point in favor of switching to the new test was that the district's accountability rating with the state would not get worse, regardless of assessment results."However the district does in 2014, if they choose PARCC, the worst they could do would be the same accountability rating as last year," he said.However, Maruszczak said, there were numerous drawbacks to the change."The biggest feedback that we got from Miscoe (Hill School) that was negative was tech issues," he said. "The were numerous instances where kids timed out of the website, and some instances where the website wasn't optimized for tablets."Maruszczak also said he feared certain test materials could be confusing to young students."The instructions to the kids were also pretty overwhelming," he said. "I had the opportunity to sit in a fifth-grade classroom for about an hour - I had a flashback to 1983, when I was sitting for the SATs."Maruszczak ended the presentation by recommending the district retain MCAS.Each School Committee member said they were uncomfortable with moving to PARCC for the next school year."I went to a meeting with (the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) last week," said member Chris Russo. "I asked them about 1,000 questions, and they really had no answers - none."Committee member Diane Duncan said she wasn't sure the teachers or students were ready for the change."It's not refined, it's not tested," she said. "It's kind of being thrown at us in an imperfect way."Board Chairwoman Leigh Martin said it seemed as though the pilot testing just ended, and questioned whether the state could have acted on feedback in so short a time.Mike Gleason can be reached at 508-634-7546 or mgleason@wickedlocal.com. For news throughout the day, follow him on Twitter @MGleason_MDN.